Plug-In NCW is hosting an EVent at the 59er Diner at Coles Corner on Hwy 2 west of Leavenworth, Saturday, May 11th, 11 am - 1 pm.

The 59er Diner was one of the first sites to host a Plug-In NCW haL2 (high amperage Level 2) charger back in early 2014. When the diner burned several years ago, the charger was kept in service. The diner is now back in operation, better than ever! Come with your EV to show our appreciation for the 59er Diner’s continued support of EV travel!

Every EV will get one free 59er Diner awesome milkshake, courtesy of Plug-In NCW! Other activities and fun are also being planned.

In addition to the Plug-In NCW haL2 charger, several Juice Box L2 chargers will be available. And, there’s also a Tesla Supercharger and Aerovironment L3 in Leavenworth, 15 miles east of Coles Corner.

Sometimes I just fall for the wrong argument. A friend of mine was saying that the only time he would consider buying an electric car is when he could charge it up in the same amount of time it takes to fill a legacy car gas tank. Sure, I just fell right into his logic by trying to talk about improvements in batteries and high-power Level 3 chargers. But in stepping away from the heat of that discussion; OK, argument, I see the wisdom of staying away from non sequitur comparisons.

In this case the “time to fill up” comparison is really an expression of hope that electric cars will not become the dominate road machines of the future. The speaker of this conspiracy believes that it is an unattainable goal, therefore they will never be forced to admit that EVs are better.

A big guy driving a big pickup truck pulled up beside me a few weeks ago and as he rolled down the passenger side window, he asked with a kind of knowing look, “How long you have to wait here to charge?” I told him, “I’m going to lunch and it’ll be ready to go when I get back.” I didn’t stay to engage further. See, I can learn from my experiences.

The real issue to consider is how inconvenient is it to charge my car. Legacy vehicle drivers seem to believe it takes them about three or four minutes to “gas up.” Of course, they may have driven a little out of their way to get to the gas station, they might have had to wait in line and they had to smell the gasoline. But I digress. Me? I just drive home and in about one minute, plug the charger handle into my car and retire for the evening. Nearly 98% of my charge time is spent inside my home enjoying myself and I never have to “smell that smell.”

In conclusion, the 30-40 minutes I sometimes have to use “exploring the neighborhood” while charging away from home are more than offset by the overwhelming number of “one minute” plug ins I perform at home.

Washington State released information on EV registrations recently; for the first time ever, there are 41,091 electric cars registered. Also worth noting 2018 is the first year where every county in the state has an EV registered.

We usually talk about electric happenings that are local; but this story was just too encouraging. You will be enchanted as you read this unfolding story of inventiveness, determination and reward. Plug-In NCW has been saying that there are unintended advantages to EV travel, this story exposes some of them.

Plug-In NCW partnered with the Pybus University program at Pybus Public Market to present an opportunity to learn some of the basics of Electric Vehicle ownership and to experience a selection of available vehicles. Some of the topics covered:

Why it’s more economical to drive an EV than a fossil fuel vehicle.

EV charging and how to find public EV charging stations.

Buying or leasing an EV.

What vehicles are currently available

After the classroom discussion there were EVs from Chevrolet, Nissan, Smart and Tesla and owners available to continue the learning experience.

Jack Anderson and Randy Brooks presented the information and answered the many questions generated. This presentation was also part of the national Drive Electric Week events coordinated by Plug In America. www.pluginncw.com

A few months ago we decided to buy a new EV just before the WA sales tax exemption expired. We sold our 2013 Volt, which we bought used in late '14, with some reluctance, as it was a great car that introduced us to a better way, convincing us almost overnight we’d never consider any car without a plug.

We drove it 30,000 miles averaging 140 miles per gallon, which hinted at the possibility of forsaking gasoline forever. It was so good we later bought a lightly used ’13 Leaf for cheap and zealously convinced a few friends to buy EVs of their own. We came to see gas stations as places with squeegees and restrooms, while trying not to think about how many hours of our lives we’d wasted pumping gas and inhaling fumes.

How much better is the Bolt? So much better that it’s hard to say what could be improved. I’m not going to detail the solid feel, comfy seats, serene quiet, and rocket acceleration. I guess it’s a little small but we’re used to that (the only gas car we ever owned was a ‘95 Neon), which goes hand in hand with conservation. And the idea of buying a new car was intimidating. But not as much as climate change. We wanted to be liberated from petroleum forever and the Bolt was the only realistic way to do it.

In four months we’ve gone 8,000 miles. We’ve never been tempted to drive so much, all without asking ourselves: Is this trip really necessary? I seriously doubt we’ve spent $100 charging. We’ve been to Spokane a few times and the west side of the Cascades several times. We even drove from Leavenworth to downtown Seattle and back without charging, but with all the places to plug in over there it wasn’t necessary other than to prove it could be done (once was enough).

But the best road trip took us nearly to California, visiting National Parks along US 97 in Eastern Oregon along the way, covering 1,200 miles for about $37 in charging fees.

You might be surprised how easy it is to charge. Here in the Northwest there are new charging stations being added to the network every week or so. I hope the following illustrates how affordable and simple it is around here for anyone to ditch gas once and for all.

1. We unplugged from our garage with a full battery, which GM says is good for 238 miles (we can easily do better in mild weather). In case you’re wondering, that charge added about $1.80 to our Chelan County PUD bill.

2. We used a free fast charger in Yakima at a Chevy dealer. About 20 minutes added more than enough extra juice to reach Mauphin, OR, which I’m not even sure was necessary but why not when it was convenient, and we needed a stretch break anyway? We found this charger, and all others, using the Plugshare website/app, which lists fees and other details such as nearby things to do, places to eat, etc.

3. We camped in the Mauphin city park overnight and plugged into an RV outlet using our JuiceBox charger.

4. We left the next day with another full battery. Although we didn’t need to charge, while we ate breakfast in Madras we plugged in at a regular charger at City Hall two blocks away, gaining about 30 miles for free.

5. After a long day including three great hikes in different parts of Newberry National Volcanic Monument, that night we camped at Big Pines RV campground (very nice!) in Crescent, OR and used an RV outlet to fill up while we slept.

6. We spent the next three days driving and hiking all over Crater Lake National Park, charging several times for free at Mazama Village, our home base in the park, whenever it was convenient. Occasionally we saw other EVs at this charging station, but sharing was no problem.

7. It was sad to leave Crater Lake but the consolation was even though the battery was full when we departed, while descending about 4,000 feet back to civilization the car kept charging itself passively and kept us from speeding down the hill, which is a neat trick! Using the electric brakes, the Bolt crammed in more electrons until the display said we added about 150 miles of range. All I had to do was steer and admire the scenery. Who wants to use primitive, energy-wasting mechanical brakes anyway?

8. We drove a few hours to Oregon Caves National Monument near California, hiked underground, and later drove to Wolf Creek, OR. That night, for the first time on this trip, we had to pay to charge (flat fee $4) while plugged in overnight at a regular charger next to our hotel.

9. The next day the girls had donuts on their mind, not to mention their own beds. So we headed home via I-5 stopping briefly in Salem for Voodoo Donuts in a big pink box for the road. Later while eating lunch near Eugene we used a fast charger for about 90 minutes, which nearly filled the battery (flat fee $10). Later we ate dinner while charging at another fast charger at Tacoma Mall (pay by the minute $22.85 total) which easily got us all the way home, even though we didn’t wait for a full charge.

We’re already planning next summer’s EV adventure into Northern California. Meanwhile I hope you find some EV inspiration. And consider this an invitation to contact me if you’re EV curious.

When I say, "departs" I mean in a really big way. Nick Chambers was a founding member of what is today Plug-In North Central Washington. His insight and knowledge of the automotive industry was a primary factor in this organization's success in helping foster EV adoption in our part of Washington State. For several years Nick's employer has asked that he and his family move to Germany to work at Home Office. This year the offer was too good to pass up. We will miss his uncommonly good sense and slightly rye humor.

To recognize his contributions Nick (center) was presented with a Lithium vehicle starter system by Jack Anderson (left) and Randy and Anne Brooks (left). We expect him to assist stranded German ICE drivers and have the opportunity to demonstrate the value of EVs. In truth, we may have been attempting to "bribe" Nick to return to Plug-In NCW upon his return.

The Department of Revenue has notified the Washington State Auto Dealers Association that the alternative fuel vehicle sales tax exemption will end on May 31. To receive this tax exemption, your vehicle must be delivered on or before May 31, 2018.

When I was asked to write up a short article for Plug-In NCW, I felt grateful to have the opportunity to share my story. For anyone who has been thinking of buying an electric vehicle (EV) and has questions, that is a good thing. After contemplating and evaluating this endeavor for six months, I am now leasing a new 2018 Smart Fortwo EV and couldn’t be happier! I hope by sharing this story, it will help you make the leap as well and more importantly choose the option that fits you.

First, I want to share my typical driving situation. I own a 2007 Honda Ridgeline with 125,000 miles on it. It is a great SUV! I drive it to and from work in the city of Wenatchee about 10-20 miles per day. On weekends, I often take it on a day trip up the Icicle Valley, to Chelan, or around Wenatchee to take advantage of our beautiful outdoor wonderland. About six times a year, I drive about 600 miles round trip to visit friends on the Washington coast. Finally, once every other year, I take a week or two road trip vacation somewhere between 1,000 to 2,000 miles. All total, the Honda has been racking up 15,000 miles per year on average. At this rate, it won’t be long before it will be time to replace the Honda at a price pushing $40,000 with sales tax. Ouch.

What is worse, is at least 10,000 miles per year is in town driving where gas mileage runs around 13 mpg. The in-town driving is tough on the Honda and its tires, and is a bit clumsy in the city. This is the primary motivation for buying an in-town car. I used to own a Geo Tracker and it was perfect for bouncing around the city and thus I admit a small car is really all that is needed to carry myself and groceries.

In evaluating which car to purchase, I wanted to keep my costs low and essentially pay for the car with gas bill savings. My options included purchasing a used Nissan Leaf, a new Chevy Bolt, or another small electric vehicle. After test driving a Bolt, a very nice EV for the price, I decided to eliminate that option due to the purchase price. It would be more expensive than my gas bill savings even with the Federal Tax Credit of $7,500 and trading in the HondaRidgeline. The second option, a used Nissan Leaf, is very affordable at roughly $6,000 to $8,000. After nearly purchasing a used Leaf, I decided to investigate the lease of a new EV Smart car which required going to the Mercedes dealer in Portland, OR. There is so much demand for these little cars, that they sold three of them while I was test driving one. I see why!

With the $7,500 tax credit that Mercedes applies to the lease, I walked out of the show room with a 36 month, 30,000 mile lease for only $143 per month. This is pretty hard to beat! Now, the Honda gets parked except for road trips and in the mountains where it excels. I also get to keep $8,000 in the bank and end up with a new car instead of a used Leaf. If you can tell that I’m happy with the choice, you are right!

So far, everyone asks… “How is the performance of the Smart car?” Here are my two cents. First you need to drive one to fully understand. I think you will be shocked at how well they drive for such a short wheel base (even in the snow). It is not a luxury car, it is an in-town car that can park anywhere, turns on a dime, and is simply fun. It is spunky with the torque of the electric motor and has enough creature features to make it very comfortable.

The first week of leasing the car the temperatures in Wenatchee were below 30 degrees and bottomed out in the teens. I will tell you that the EPA rated range of 58 miles was cut to about 40 miles with the heater going full blast. So, the first week, I chose to charge it at a level 2 charger twice for about three hours each time. Now that the weather has warmed up to the 30s and 40’s, the range is now 70 to 80 miles in town. Since there is not an 110v outlet at my apartment, I am charging it once a week and once on the weekend at one of the many L2 chargers located in town.

Check out the PlugShare app and you will find all the chargers. It is a piece of cake. Planned charging is easy to do as part of your regular activities. For example, it is easy to charge while taking a walk at the park or at Saddlerock where there is an L2 charger, or at noon when having lunch.

The Smart car has an impressively fast L2 charging system. It is not a hassle at all. In fact, it is even a little easier than realizing unexpectedly… oh I need to go get gas.At the end of the day, the life of the Ridgeline is prolonged, I have a new run around town car, save a lot of gas, and enjoy sharing with our community the opportunities to contribute to the advancement of technology, conservation of energy, and the betterment of our city.

- Steve King lives in Wenatchee and contributed this article at the request of the Plug-In NCW committee board. King is the Community Development Director for the City of Wenatchee.

Congress extend EV-related tax credits for charging stations, and electric motorcycles that had expired on December 31, 2016. The new date is December 31, 2017. So, in other words, if you made a qualifying purchase in 2017 you can claim it .

The tax credit for charging stations (EVSE) is 30% (up to $1,000), while for electric motorcycles its 10% (up to $2,500).

Note that the extension is only retroactive. For right now it does not include the year 2018.

Plug-In NCW has highlighted Pacific Power Batteries previously but their joining the E-Waste program means that they now handle more than just batteries. You may want to plan your E-Waste drop offs for Wednesdays because they offer free watch battery replacement Wednesday of every week.

They now recycle televisions, computer monitors, towers, laptops, and cellphones. They also recycle anything battery-related: alkaline batteries, NiCad batteries, lithium batteries, and automotive batteries. Everything that is rechargeable (lithium) is free to recycle. Alkaline batteries are charged $1.10 per pound. In regards to computer parts, towers, monitors and chords are recycled. Keyboards and printers are not recycled. If you have a question call before you make the trip.

Pacific Power Batteries has been recycling batteries for a long time, but the E-Waste part has recently started. They are open Monday-Friday from 8-6 and Saturday and Sunday from 9-5. Phone: 509-663-6100. Email: sales@pacificpowerbatteries.com

Like most people yearning for an alternative to gas and diesel-powered cars, I wanted a Tesla, but didn’t have the means for a $100,000 car. In 2014, we purchased a used Toyota Highlander Hybrid, and we really like the car. However, it's basically a gas-powered car that is made more efficient with the use of a battery and electric motors to re-capture braking energy. It works great and I’m not knocking it, yet I still wanted a car that did not require fossil fuels. So, in 2017 Chevy announced the Bolt and we wound up buying one in November.

Our First 5 Impressions:

The car is easy to get in and out of, an important factor for us. It's smaller than the VW Jetta TDI that I drove for 11 years, but it stands a bit taller.

The car is stunningly smooth. I’m used to the “turbo lag” of a VW turbo-diesel and while I hardly noticed it after a while, the Bolt is a revelation with its instant power, smooth acceleration and no shifting.

The range. It's rated at 238 miles and it will probably do that in the summer. The car “learns” your driving habits and predicts the remaining range. With a fully-charged battery, our predicted range is about 185 miles. This is in the winter with the heater on and with snow tires. This turns out to be plenty for multiple trips around the Chelan Valley and a trip to Wenatchee and back, and that makes it more than adequate for us. It will probably be back up to 230+ miles in the summer with the low-rolling-resistance tires.

It is comfortable for a small car. It's easy to get in and out of, and it’s also easy for older people to get in and out of it, as it stands a bit taller than a sedan and nowhere near as tall as an SUV.

Charging the car: It comes with a level-one “portable” charging cord. This cord is like a laptop charger but about 5 times larger with a heavy cord. It will charge the car from a 120-Volt standard outlet at either 8 Amps or 12 Amps from the outlet. It takes about 2 full 24-hour days to charge it with the portable cord if the car is fully discharged. This has not been an issue for us, because we tend to use maybe a quarter of the battery capacity in a day, and it charges overnight just fine. Nevertheless, I have ordered a Clipper Creek 40-Amp 240-Volt Level 2 charger that will charge it from empty overnight. I just need to get it wired in to my house.

If anyone wants to use a Chevy Bolt for cross-country travel, make sure the car is equipped with the Level-3 charging option. I was told by the dealer that this cannot be added as an after-market option. A Level-3 charger will add about 90 miles of range on the car in about 30 minutes. And shoot, my car doesn’t have this option. Once I get my Level-2 charger hooked up, it will add about 25 miles of range in an hour of charging.

So those are my 5 first impressions. I can now pass by gas stations and not care what the price is! That, and we are blessed with inexpensive hydro power in Chelan - there is no coal or oil being burned to produce our electricity. The car has a 60-kilowatt-hour battery. A full charge from empty costs about $1.80. Someday I may get to installing solar panels at our home, and then we can charge the car for free! That said, I actually didn’t buy the car to save money on fuel. I bought it so that I can have one car that burns no fossil fuel. The side benefit is that it is super fun to drive!

We have passed the "tipping Point" and it seems quite certain that electric powered vehicles will continue to replace the pollution producing ICE. During December of 2017 EV sales were 1.6% of all new cars sold in America. A record number of 199,826 EVs were purchased in this country during last year. Plug-In North Central Washington looks forward to the challenge of ensuring charging opportunities for all the new electric vehicles.

On Wednesday, November 1, Plug-In NCW participated in an exciting EVent at the Confluence Technology Center (CTC) in Wenatchee. Hosted by the Chelan County PUD, Dr. Michael Kintner-Meyer of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Wash. gave a presentation on “Smart Transportation: What is smart about it and how might it impact you?”

Our current level of “autonomous” (self driving) cars, the future of fully autonomous cars and their impact on the economics and environment of Washington state was the focus of the presentation, with a panel discussion afterward. Plug-In NCW Charger Network Coordinator volunteer Randy Brooks participated in the panel discussion.

To compliment the presentation, Plug-In NCW agreed to have some AutoPilot equipped Tesla vehicles at the CTC before the presentation for attendees to get a demonstration ride of “semi-autonomous” vehicle operation.

That turned out to be more challenging than we thought! After several weeks of unsuccessfully getting any autopilot-equipped vehicles to attend, the day before we finally got a commitment for one vehicle! Then, through the extraordinary efforts of Jim White at Chelan PUD, another vehicle from west of the mountains agreed to be there.

Although the demo rides were not scheduled to begin until 5 p.m., people started showing up at 4:30. Fortunately one vehicle was already there, so demo rides began. By 5 o'clock we had two vehicles going and a full sign up sheet!

Then, out of the blue, two brand new Tesla Model Xs arrived! The owners, from the Wenatchee area, had heard about the event and showed up to see what was going on. They readily agreed to give demo rides! It was a good thing, because by 6:30, when we closed demo rides to attend the presentation, 77 people had been given rides! Wow!

Folks from Cascade Auto also brought a brand new Chevy Bolt for people to see.

About 90 people attended the presentation and panel discussion. Interest was high and questions and discussion continued until 8:30 pm, when the PUD event coordinator had to end the EVent!

Here are the latest Electric Vehicle ownership stats for Washington as of June 2017, according to the State Departments of Transportation and Licensing. Highest per capita ownership is San Juan County.

The Soap Lake EV charger is complete, verified, and posted on PlugShare! The enthusiastic support of the City of Soap Lake and prompt work by Segalini Electric in Ephrata brought this unit on-line in record time. The charger is located at Smokiam Park, at the north end of town, just off Hwy 17. The Mayor is working on getting “EV charger” signs posted on Hwy 17. The pin on PlugShare is accurate. The statue/sundial there is pretty awesome!

The Wenatchee Business Journal reported that the popular resort at the end of Lake Chelan is now offering the rental of Rad Power Bikes which are available from the Seattle company by direct purchase. E-Bikes or "Pedal Assist" are a growing segment of the bicycling market. These are not electric motorcycles but are bicycles that require varying levels of human effort to climb hills or gain speed. Twolocal central Washington sources of other brands of e-Bikes are Full Circle Cycle, and Cycle Central. Plug-In NCW will have the Polaris e-Bike at our National Drive Electric Week EVent on Saturday the 9th, 12 - 6PM, parking lot of Commercial Printing/Dusty's Drive In, Wenatchee.